Man files harassment claim against Union Spring Country Club

Corpage Robinson says he was just turning around in the country club's parking lot when he was confronted.

UNION SPRINGS, AL (WSFA) -

The Union Springs Country Club in Bullock County is in the center of controversy. The club is a private membership club. A Union Springs man believes he was mistreated for no reason at all, and now the police are involved.

It allegedly happened Thursday afternoon.

Corpage Robinson says it started with him and all he was doing was giving his wife a tour of his hometown. Robinson says he is living in Union Springs temporarily while his home in Wetumpka is being built.

"I told her there were some nice areas in Union Springs," said Robinson.

The tour included pointing out the elementary school Robinson's mother retired from, a school not far from the Union Springs Country Club. Robinson says he used the club's parking lot as a turn-a-round, a way to get back to the main road and that's when it happened.

Mr. Robinson is black.

"I saw these two white males coming down off the golf course in their golf cart waving me down and telling me to stop and we stopped," said Robinson.

Robinson alleges the two men in the cart were 'verbally abusive' and one pulled out a weapon. Both men got out of their cart and into a vehicle and followed Robinson to the police department. Robinson made it clear to WSFA 12 News he never saw the man point the gun at him... just the fact the man had a gun.

"I noticed he's got a pistol and my wife said 'we just need to get on out of here.' We then noticed we were being followed by this vehicle," said Robinson.

WSFA 12 News talked with the two men in the cart. Both declined on-camera interviews. However, one of the two men says much of what Robinson is saying is actually true.. except for two key facts; the man claimed it was Robinson, not them.. who was verbally abusive and cursed and that no one produced a weapon.

The second man questioned out loud from his pickup truck whether 'this was news' and used his truck to peel out, throwing rocks towards this reporter and his camera.

Meantime, club leaders say they have the right to question non-members coming through the property especially in light of the fact the club says it's had at least three golf carts stolen recently. The country club says it is not suggesting Robinson is the culprit in the cart thefts.

The Union Springs Police Department confirmed Robinson has filed an harrassment report and we're told investigators are looking into the matter.

Two country club board members approached this reporter in a Union Springs restaurant late Friday afternoon and asked that the report not be aired because they 'didn't want any publicity good or bad.' This reporter refused their requests.

Those same board members told WSFA 12 News that Corpage Robinson had spent time in prison. Robinson acknowledged he did, in fact, spend a few months in a state prison for 'receiving stolen property,' but says he completed his sentence 4 years ago, paid his debt to society and is trying to do right today. Robinson added 'I'm not sure why that is relevant to what happened to me at the country club.'

The country club also said after their two members folowed Robinson out of the country club parking lot they got his tag number and alleged the tag didn't belong to the Yukon Robinson was driving. Robinson disputes that claim saying the vehicle is in his wife's name and has the 'appropriate paperwork to prove it.'

"It's a hurtful thing to know this happened in my hometown," said Robinson.

Corpage Robinson has his story and the Union Springs Country Club is sticking to its version of what happened. The club insists it's done nothing wrong.